Traveler's Guide
by BlackCavern
Summary: Riley takes a trip through Rota's history.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pokemon

* * *

A massive explosion rocked Iron Island as a blue sphere shot out of the rubble and dissolved in the air.

"Phew, good job Lucario I thought we were stuck there." Riley praised stepping out into the sunlight. Lucario bounded out after it's trainer shaking dust from it's ears.

Lairon and Aron were stamping across the rocky terrain as always smashing into the occasional rock. Smiling broadly Riley reluctantly tore himself away from the sight motioning Lucario to follow him. The Pokemon gave him a look of confusion.

"We're heading to the docks Lucario, we're going on vacation." Riley answered as brightly as he could manage.

Lucario tilted it's head in an annoyed and still confused manner. "I know what you mean, I don't want to leave this place either. But Byron said something about it not being healthy for the mind, let's just say I'm trying to get him off my back." Riley said ruefully thinking about the eccentric gym leader. "Come on, it'll be fun."

During the explanation the trainer and Pokemon had set a swift pace to the docks. "We're heading for a town called Rota, I've heard it's an interesting place. There's even a castle!"

* * *

The boat trip wasn't the most interesting, Riley was plenty entertained by the blue waves but Lucario didn't take to the water.

"Ahhh! Finally, feels good to be on land again isn't it Lucario?" Riley teased. Lucario glared at him angrily then looked away.

"So this is Rota, look at that." Riley pointed to the large castle that dominated the view. He then promptly flipped through the traveler's guide and held up a picture of the said castle to Lucario. "Look, here it says that it's called Cameron Palace, it's suppose to hold all kinds of artifacts. It even says that there use to be an Aura Guardian here. Maybe this place can help you train."

With his eyes still glued on the guide Riley crossed the massive marble bridge leaving the active watching to Lucario. He didn't look up until they entered the large decorative gates and only for a moment to marvel at the craftsmanship.

"It says here that this is the location for the annual Aura festival, it's a costume Pokemon tournament where the winner can guard the Aura Guardian's staff for the night. Sounds like fun, do you think we should enter?" Riley was broken out of his concentration by Lucario tugging on his sleeve. "What is it?" the Pokemon gestured to the walls.

Riley followed Lucario's gesture and found himself marveling at the various ceiling to floor paintings that covered the walls of the throne room. One had a detailed picture of a Pigeot, perfect to the last feather. Another was a painting of Mew with a tree shaped mountain in the back ground. Riley's eyes stopped on the next painting and an expression of shock appeared on his face. "Hey Lucario, does that person in the painting have the same hat that I do?" he asked cautiously.

Lucario nodded in an amused manner. "You shouldn't be laughing, look at that." Riley pointed at the Lucario standing next to the person. "You know now that I think of it, do I look like that person in the painting?" Riley's tone took on a new level of astonishment. The man in the painting had a remarkable likeness to him, the same hair, same eye color,...same hat. The main difference was the clothing and the peculiar staff. Lucario growled pulling away Riley's attention, "What is it Lucario."

Suddenly he realized what his Pokemon was agitated about, a handful of people who were also looking at the painting have started staring at him. A small child was pointing at him and said particularly loudly to his mother, "Mommy, is that the guy in the painting?" Riley cringed at little under the intense stares and suppressed whispers, "Lucario...maybe we should leave." he whispered.

But Lucario was no longer at his side, the Pokemon had strayed to one of the numerous glass display boxes. This one was a long rectangle and held the staff that was depicted in the painting. "Do you sense anything from it?"

Lucario nodded gazing intently at the staff, "It must be very ancient aura." Riley remarked. The two were so intent on the staff that they did not notice an old lady dressed in a maid dress coming up to them. "Excuse me young man, are you entered into the Pokemon tournament?"

Riley looked up startled and took a moment before he could speak, "N-no, why?"

The old woman smiled, "Oh it's nothing, it's just that your Lucario looks very well trained. You know this tournament is to honor the Aura Guardian Sir Aaron, come to think of it you do look a bit like Sir Aaron. Who knows, maybe you'll win?"

Riley looked to Lucario, "Well, you heard it there, are you up for it Lucario?"

Lucario agreed in the nonchalant way that all Lucario did then growled at it's trainer. "Okay okay, I get it, no costumes." Secretly Riley was relieved that Lucario made that decision for him.

After making up their minds Riley and Lucario went to see the other sights before the tournament started, and away from the curious stares. Riley stopped at one of the signs that lined the side walk, "Hm...the Tree of Beginning, the mountain base is open to visitors tomorrow, this is perfect, I was wondering what that big mountain was like." Writing down a reminder on the cover of his always present traveler's guide Riley and Lucario continued exploring Rota.

* * *

As the sky turned dark scores of trainers and their Pokemon flooded to Cameron palace. What had been a museum in the morning had turned into a Pokemon battlefield. Two Pokemon trainers were already standing on opposite sides of the field, one girl wearing in a green cloak processed a Rapidash and a young trainer dressed like a squire with a Hitmonchan. The judge waved two flags signaling the battle to begin.

Immediately the two Pokemon launched themselves at each other throwing attacks left and right. Blasts of dust resulted and the impact could be felt from even the highest seats.

"Hey Lucario, looks like it's our turn." Riley sprinted down the stairs but stopped just before the door, "Um...should I take the hat off...you know so they don't think I'm-" he was cut off by Lucario's growl.

Stepping out on to the battlefield the applause seemed to rock the very ground. The hum of whispers once again reached Riley's ears. The opposite trainer threw a Pokemon into the air, "Go Vileplume!"

"Alright Lucario, use Dragon Pulse!" Riley yelled starting off the battle.

"Dodge it Vileplume with Double Team!" The Vileplume double teams formed a circle around Lucario. "Find the real one Lucario!" Riley commanded, Lucario shut it's eyes scanning for aura, it opened it's eyes upon finding the real one.

"Good! Now use Flash Cannon!" A silver circle appeared between Lucario's paws and turned into a beam that struck Vileplume full on. The battle wasn't over, "Vileplume use Petal Dance!"

Pink petals turned into a whirlwind that pummeled Lucario, "Lucario, use Dragon Pulse again!" The attack missed as Vileplume rolled aside. Riley clenched his fists, "Alright then, use Aura Sphere!" Lucario growled in acknowledgement and formed a blue sphere, the Aura Sphere flew straight at Vileplume. When the Pokemon attempted to dodge the attack swerved with it and hit Vileplume.

The proctor raised the left flag, "Vileplume is unable to battle, Lucario is the winner!"

* * *

Several Pokemon battles later...

* * *

Riley stepped onto the battle field again instilled with confidence from past victories. "Well look at that, we made it to the final round."

His final opponent was dressed up as some kind of priestess, she threw a Pokeball into the air yelling, "Kabutops come on out!"

"Kabutops? But that's part Rock type." Riley exclaimed.

The girl wasn't fazed, "Kabutops, Metal Sound!" A horrible screeching, grinding sound caused everyone to cover their ears, Lucario and Riley included. "Now Kabutops use Slash!"

Lucario was knocked backwards but stood up almost instantly, "Lucario, Aura Sphere!" The blue sphere chased Kabutops around until it struck. "Now use Close Combat!" Riley ordered. Kabutops fell to the ground fainted.

"Kabutops is unable to battle, the winner is Lucario!" the proctor declared.

* * *

Lady Irene and Riley stood on the platform with the former feeling slightly uncomfortable under all the attention. Irene took the staff out of the glass case and held it out horizontally, "This is the Staff of the Guardian that once belonged to the great Sir Aaron. According to tradition the winner of the tournament is named Aura Guardian for the year and presented with the staff."

Riley took it with shaking hands, he could feel a strange power like putting your hands in a strong ocean torrent. After he accepted the staff Lady Irene gave the signal to start the dancing. Riley contented himself with looking at the numerous paintings and tapestries.

"Pretty neat isn't it Lucario, this thing must be thousands of years old." he turned the staff watching the crystal reflect the light. "I can feel some kind of faint energy from it, why don't you hold it, maybe you can figure out what it is." he offered the staff but Lucario shrank away from it uncharacteristically.

Riley tilted his head questioningly but his gaze was drawn automatically back to the painting of Sir Aaron and Lucario. "You know when I first saw you this morning I thought Sir Aaron had come back from the dead." a voice said.

Turning he found Lady Irene standing behind him, "Yeah, strange isn't it?" Riley answered shakingly. "Even your hat is the same, it can't just be a coincidence can it?" Irene asked. Riley shrugged, unconsciously toying with the staff, "I think it is, I mean I didn't even know about Sir Aaron until today."

"You even have a Lucario...maybe you even have the fortune to use aura." Lady Irene smiled then left him alone. Riley shrugged leaning the staff against his shoulder as he kept critiquing the painting. All this time Lucario had been dutifully standing next to it's trainer but now it's eyes were fixed on the staff, a powerful aura emitted from object making it feel uneasy. Somehow it's trainer didn't seem to even notice it.

An hour or two later the music finally stopped and the dancers stood still. "Now we will pay one last tribute to Sir Aaron, our new guardian will give the signal to start the fireworks!" Lady Irene announced. All eyes were on Riley who looked back confused.

"Assume the pose of the guardian!" the old maid whispered loudly nodding to the Sir Aaron painting. Feeling a tad embarrassed Riley obliged and raised the staff high above his head copying the pose. Suddenly the energy he felt form the staff increased tenfold. His arm shook with pain and he barely fought off the urge to release the staff and let it fall to the ground. At the first boom of fireworks Riley quickly lowered the staff, he felt like he had just been electrocuted.

Lucario nudged his arm asking a silent question, "No really, I'm okay." Riley smiled wryly, "Whatever power you felt in that staff, that made you dislike it. I think I felt it too, but I can't make anything of it."

Lucario growled, Riley nodded in agreement, "Some kind of ancient aura, you know I always thought that aura faded with time. Like you can't track an Aron after it's been gone for a few days. Do you think that was Sir Aaron's aura? Or maybe his Lucario's?" Lucario shrugged as best a Pokemon could. Riley looked out of one of the castle's massive windows, now he was more determined then ever to go to the Tree of Beginning. It was a center piece for the Aura Guardians and he won't leave until he figured out just what was so special about that rock.

* * *

Cameron palace aside of being a museum offered visitors an experience of living in the old days, in other words it was an inn. Riley couldn't sleep for hours, his hands and arms had stopped hurting but he could still imagine the aura from the staff. He managed to achieve a light dose and get a few hours of rest before sunrise.

He left the palace extra early, a thick morning mist that had not been around the other day now hung over Rota. He opened up Lucario's pokeball, "Come on Lucario, maybe we can train a little at the Tree of Beginning." without waiting for an answer Riley sped off to the train leaving Lucario to catch up.

The Cameron train didn't take tourists very far, if they wanted to see the Tree of Beginning, they'll have to walk. The train stopped right before a geyser field, mist came from a nearby hot spring which was probably the destination for the majority of the passengers. Riley found a rocky path that went around the geysers and seeing no boundaries he headed to one of the 'roots' of the Tree of Beginning. The closer he got the more blue crystals he saw, they stuck out of the ground like shrubs and were all over the place. Finally his curiosity got the best of him and he knelt down by a large crystal tapping the surface. "What do you suppose this is Lucario?"

Lucario growled and mimicked it's trainer and put a paw on the crystal, it lit up. Riley immediately drew back, "Guess it reacts to aura, still I wonder what it's used for." The crystal turned green for a moment then the light dissipated when Lucario moved away. Turning away from the odd stone Riley and Lucario headed deeper into the Tree of Beginning, the further they got away from human civilization the more Pokemon they saw. At another place Riley might have been tempted to catch one but it seemed wrong to disturb the peace here.

Lulled into a kind of mental fog Riley idly kicked at the ground but was brought back to reality when he felt his foot catch on something. A pink and blue object flew a small distance then fell to the ground wtih a light thud. Lucario quickly rushed forward and brought it back, up close it looked like some kind of flower. Feeling a bit guilty Riley quickly looked around for where the flower had been but couldn't find it, besides the flower didn't seem to have any roots.

He took the flower from Lucario but the moment his hand made contact an orb came out of the now open flower. It rose up an inch then expanded turning the area into a gray mist. Out of no where a Nidoqueen came thundering, there was no time to react but the second when Riley should've been trampled the Nidoqueen just passed through him.

"Huh? What the-" Riley stood up dusting off his pants, suddenly feel impatient he called to Lucairo, "Come on, let's get going!"

Confused at it's trainer but following none the less Lucario growled and bounded forward. Riley continuously sped up until he was running, he estimated that they must've been getting close to the 'trunk' of the Tree. He paused once they reached a circular tunnel entrance to catch his breath.

Now Riley paused, "I don't know about this, why if we get lost? This is no Iron Island. Lucario, do you think you can use your aura and trace our tracks?"

Lucario nodded and that made up Riley's mind. In the tunnel they would go.

The inside of the Tree was lit up by the blue crystals with a few stray Rock-type Pokemon here and there. Every so often they would find a tunnel that led out to a 'leaf', every one held a spectacular view.

As Riley and Lucario headed further into the Tree of Beginning they noticed fewer and fewer Pokemon. "That's odd, there's nothing here. Lucario, use your aura and scan ahead." Riley said.

Lucario shut it's eyes and scouted ahead winding through tunnels with it's aura. Suddenly it gave a growl of warning and shoved Riley violently to the side. A second later a Hyper Beam shattered the rock wall they had been standing in front of a moment ago. Riley looked upwards and saw a bulky shape on a high ledge.

"**Regi-regirock**"

A Regirock came out into the light and started charging up another Hyper Beam. "Lucario! Aura Sphere!" Riley yelled. Lucario formed an Aura Sphere between it's paws and launched it at Regirock. A large cloud of rock and dust resulted, "Good job, now let's go!" Riley took off.

He turned a few corners before daring to stop, "Do you think we lost it?" he asked Lucario. Before Lucario could answer a loud shrieking sound came form behind. But instead of the expected Ancient Power the surrounding area was frozen by Ice Beam.

"**REEEEEEGGGGIIIIIIICCCCCEEEE!**"

Another Ice Beam came their way, far too fast to be countered. Suddenly a circle of light appeared in front of Riley and a Mime Jr. came out of it. The Regice almost immediately gave up it's attack and levitated away. It took Riley a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened during which the Mime Jr. morphed into a Chingling and flew away calling back to Riley.

"Guess it wants us to follow, come on Lucario!" Riley started running to catch up with the Chingling/Mime Jr. The Chingling quickly went out of sight but stopped in intervals so Riley and Lucario could catch up. "Chingling!" it called as it flew through the widening tunnel. Making a sharp turn Chingling finally stopped and levitated quietly above the ground.

Riley came to a jamming stop and stayed bent over until he caught his breath. Lucario pawed his arm, Riley tried to ignore it but the Pokemon persisted. Looking up he finally saw what had captivated Lucario. A large gathering of green crystals was in the center of the cavern, a green beam flowing up to the ceiling.

Once he found his voice again he asked the Chingling, "Why did you bring us here?" The Chingling just flew in a circle and morphed again, this time into a little pink Pokemon with cat like ears. "MEW!" it cooed cheerfully.

"Hah?" was all that left Riley's mouth. Shaking his head he looked again confirming that he was really looking at Mew. "Mew...?"

Mew laughed and flew around in circles around him and Lucario. "Why have you brought us here?" Riley asked again. Mew stopped flying and stared at Riley in confusion. It waved it's paws and mewled frantically but wilted under Riley's confused gaze. "Mew?" it whimpered.

Riley looked to Lucario who seemed as confused as it's trainer. "I'm sorry Mew but I can't understand why I'm here." Riley apologised much to Mew's dismay. Mew looked around before hovering above an object. Walking over to Mew Riley found another one of the blue and pink flowers.

He touched the flower expecting it to open up but it stayed still. Sighing with disappointment Riley prepared to leaving feeling that this whole trip was a waste of time. But Mew refused to let him go tugging on the collar of his shirt, ironically a short tempered person could've just swatted the Pokemon away. "Mew, there's no point for me staying here." he reasoned.

Mew let go sadly and flew over to a few scrap pieces of cloth that was lying on one of the crystals. The pattern on the cloth was similiar to the necklace that Riley was wearing. "You think I'm Sir Aaron...don't you?"

Mew nodded vigorously.

"I'm not Sir Aaron, my name's Riley." Riley explained. He looked around the cavern and thought of the events of the past day.

* * *

"Are you happy to be back?" Riley asked Lucario who nodded. Iron Island was just as he had left it. Aron and Metang were trooping everywhere breaking every piece of rubble that stood in their way.

"Alright Lucario, can you find the tunnel we left off on?" he asked, Lucario rushed off speeding around rocks.

Once the Pokemon was out of his eyesight Riley took the Rota traveler's guide out of his pocket.

_Huh, I wonder if I can use Aura Sphere._

* * *

**Author's Note**: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew is my favorite Pokemon movie but I always thought they should've justified Riley looking exactly like Sir Aaron a little more.

Please Read and Review


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